Little Bitsys: PART ONE: Making the "Feeling Groovy" Dress

A photo essay of the steps I take to create this dress.

The steps:

1. Buy the blanks
2. Prepare blanks for dying
3. Dye
4. Prepare dress for printing
5. Prepare fabric patch for printing
6. Design and carve block print
7. Ink the block
8. Print the patch
9. Heat set patch
10. Sew onto dress
11. Trim dress

I will start this post with the first 3 steps.

STEP 1. Order and receive clothing blanks from my favorite supplier, Dharma Trading Co. There are some other blanks suppliers as well, some will allow you to select the fabric type but the minimum orders are high. Dharma has no minimums. Dharma also sells the dyes and chemicals. Another good source I use is PRO Chemical (dyes and chemicals, not blanks).

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Here I am dying several infant lap tee long sleeve dresses, 100% cotton jersey, PFD (prepared for dying).

STEP 2. To create the tie dye effect, bunch up some fabric on the bottom of the skirt in a pattern and bind tightly with rubber bands.

Prepare the cloth for dying by soaking in water (warm is fine) for about an hour or as long as necessary for all fibers to be wet (this prevents spotty dying). For larger batches, run through the rinse cycle of the machine, no detergent. If you are not using PFD material, you should wash the fabric using Synthrapol (to be discussed later) or something similar to remove any agents that would effect the dye process.

STEP 3. First, dissolve salt in warm water. The amount depends on the amount of fabric and the color of dye. Fort his project, about 1/2 cup will work. When I dye in the washing machine I use from 2-5 cups per load, depending on the color. While the salt is dissolving, measure the dye using the proportions from your dye manufacturer. (I experimented a lot at first before getting the colors I wanted. And light colors are easier than dark). I mix my dry dye with a cup of hot water first.

For this batch, I think I have about a pound of fabric, maybe less. For this color dye, I will need about 1-1/2 tablespoons (if you want to be more accurate you should weigh the dye, this would be about .38 ounces). Each dye color has a different proportion and then you may even want to vary that to increase or decrease the color intensity.

salt

Here's a drop of water in the dye, not intentional but I think it's an artistic photo!

When dissolved, add to the dye batch.

I'm doing a small batch now so I'm going to use a bucket but for larger batches you can use a washing machine but you cannot let the water drain so it takes some practice resetting the machine and watching carefully.

Now add your wet clothes, wrung out well, to the dye and stir, stir, stir. I use a paint stirring stick and I use my hands (always wear gloves!) like a washing machine, agitating the fabric. You want the fabric to not stop moving or the dye will settle and cause an uneven effect, which is cool if you're going for that look, on this dress I'm not.

These are chemical resistant gloves that I use:

You can let the clothes sit in the dye bath and stir/agitate every 15-20 minutes or so, this works better for lighter colors. Darker colors do better if you stir/agitate more often.

Now that the dye has soaked in (for this color I waited about 30 minutes) I have to set the dye.

Dissolve dye activator (or soda ash) in a cup or two of hot hot water.

Remove the clothes from the dye bath and place in another bucket.

Add the completely dissolved (important to completely dissolve the activator in water) activator to the dye bath and mix well.

Place the clothes back in the dye with activator bucket and stir/agitate again for about 30 minutes.

Are we still only on step 3? Yes.

Now rinse and wash. Rinse until the water runs clear.

Also, different fabrics will take the dye differently. I threw some leggings into this batch and they took the dye differently though both are cotton.

After rinsing, wash the clothes in Synthrapol and hot water (notice the steam?). And make sure the husband is out of the shower, oops. You only need a tiny bit of Synthrapol. This will remove any last traces of excess dye and activator. I also sometimes use fabric softener in the final rinse. Milsoft is a good one.